Donald Trump Is Paranoid Nobody Will Come to His 79th Birthday Parade: Biographer
President Donald Trump is pulling out all the stops for his 79th birthday, organizing a massive celebration that includes a military parade, a concert, and fireworks. The event is officially to honor the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, but the timing—right on his birthday—makes it clear this is also about celebrating Trump himself. The cost? An estimated \$45 million, mostly covered by taxpayers.
The parade will feature tanks rolling through the streets of Washington, D.C., along with military helicopters and jets flying overhead. But even with all that spectacle, Trump is reportedly nervous. According to author Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump, the former president is afraid that not many people will show up, which would be a repeat of the embarrassment he felt during his 2017 inauguration. At the time, media photos showed large empty spaces on the National Mall, and Trump spent years angrily denying those images were accurate.
Trump is reportedly trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again. His team has been working to bring in supporters—literally busing people in—so the crowd looks big. The fear of empty seats isn’t unfounded. Some of Trump’s recent rallies during his 2024 campaign have had far fewer attendees than he claimed, like when he said 100,000 people showed up in Butler, Pennsylvania, but local officials put the number at about 24,000.
Wolff says Trump is already inflating expectations, claiming the crowd will be in the millions. But if it’s smaller than expected, Trump is likely to lash out in anger and then publicly insist the event was historic in size—something he’s done many times before.
Despite the big show, even some Republicans aren’t keen on attending. Members of Congress have offered a variety of excuses to avoid the event some say they’re busy moving, others are traveling, one is attending a sports event, and another joked he’s skipping it to stay married. The lack of enthusiasm even within his own party is telling.
Senator Rand Paul was openly critical of the whole display, saying he dislikes the idea of tanks and missiles in the streets. He compared it to military parades in authoritarian countries like North Korea and the old Soviet Union, saying America used to pride itself on being different.
The White House, for its part, defended the event but took aim at Michael Wolff. Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff’s comments, attacking his credibility and accusing him of making things up due to personal hatred of Trump.
Still, no matter what the official messaging is, it’s clear that Trump wants this parade to be a big, flashy show of support—and he’s deeply worried it might fall flat. Whether the streets fill up or not, you can bet he’ll say they did.
